1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus that is used as a terminal in a communication network, such as a piconet according to Bluetooth technology, wherein one of a plurality of terminals acts as a master and the other(s) as slave(s), thereby executing communication between the terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In Bluetooth, in a state in which a connectable device is not found, a standby operation by Inquiry/Page_Scan is executed. If the Inquiry/Page_Scan is always executed, however, a current consumption would increase.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-37545, for instance, discloses a technique that is available in order to overcome this drawback. According to this technique of Japanese KOKAI 2003-37545, if an interrupt due to reception of an incoming signal or a key operation does not occur during a predetermined time period, a short-distance wireless function is turned off, thereby reducing power consumption.
The technique of Japanese KOKAI 2003-37545, however, completely disables the short-distance wireless function. In this case, the standby operation is also disabled. Consequently, even if a connectable device is present nearby, this connectable device cannot be detected.
Under the circumstances, there is a demand for a technique that makes it possible to carry out a search for a connectable device, while reducing power consumption that is needed for the search operation.